by Chad Alan

 

"A Soldier's Story"

 

Sterling Opera House - Derby, Connecticut

 

The Sterling Opera House was built in 1897 and anybody who was anybody between that year and 1945 performed at the theatre.  Harry Houdini, George Burns, Milton Berle, and the list goes on and on.  The building also served as the city hall, police station, and jail.  The city is now trying to renovate the theatre which externally looks fine but internally is a dusty mess.  Renovations of old buildings usual bring out the paranormal activity and this opera house is no different.  Many apparitions are being seen from a woman in a white gown to a man dressed in period attire.  Some believe the man is Charles Sterling who died before the theatre even opened.  A young boy is said to bounce his ball.  A ball of light has been seen drifting down one of the theatre isles.  One of the caretakers was scratched on his leg while working down in a long forgotten basement.  The caretakers are hoping to get some approval to continue their renovation and hoped TAPS could help them figure out why the spirits are so restless.

 

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson started the investigation in the dressing room and noticed high EMF readings all over the place even though there is currently no power running through the building.  That being said, it does make sense that people would report feeling strange or like they were being watched.  They headed up to the mezzanine level and both heard a whisper, followed by the K2 meter lighting up.  They heard something say "Daddy" then "Boy."  They did catch an EVP from this moment but it was inaudible.  They headed to the city hall area where many reports of feeling uncomfortable in the room but they did not measure any readings on the EMF meter.  So what could it be?

 

Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves headed to the basement, which looks absolutely forgotten by time.  Pieces of falling ceiling and walls are everywhere.   They set up the laser spectrum to see if anything would cross in its path.  They both heard something crackle, as if somebody was walking towards them but nothing appeared.  Next stop was the main stage and Dave decided to show off some of his own magic tricks and hoped this might catch the interest of some former spiritual guests of the theatre.  They tricked worked as they began hearing some noises coming from the silent "audience."  They called out for more interaction but nothing else occurred.  They were able to catch the loud noise on their audio recorder as proof.

 

Amy Bruni and Adam Berry started their investigation in the main theatre and then headed up to the balcony area and tried to get the "ghost boy" to play ball with them.  They didn't get any interaction and hoped something might show up on the audio recordings. 

 

The review of the evidence did reveal a strange EVP of what sounded like a moan and another one that sounded like a crying out of a woman, maybe a woman practicing her singing.  TAPS felt the Opera House did have paranormal activity going on and looked forward to a return trip when the renovation was finished.

 

Rivers House - Fayetteville, North Carolina

 

TAPS heads to the Rivers residence to see if they can cool the nerve of mother of 2, whose husband is stationed in Iraq.  Mrs. Leah Rivers has heard footsteps up in the attic and she and others continue to see a black shadow figure roam the house.  Her children have reported being talked to and growled at by some strange being.  The last straw was when Leah was awakened in the middle of the night to something very cold by her head and then her leg followed by the kitchen clock being thrown off the kitchen wall and into the family room making a loud banging sound. 

 

Jason and Grant were the main investigators in the house while Dave and Steve manned the control center.  As they were sitting in the living room, they noticed some footsteps coming from above followed by what sounded like a thump going from the bedroom.  They couldn't trace the noises to anything in particular.  They laid down the laser grid and tried their best to get some EVP activity.  Jason heard a thump coming from the children's room.  As they were in the room, the both believed they heard something trying to play with the toys.  There was a drum on the ground and it sounded like something hit it.  They could not get any more interaction.

 

Dave and Steve were next to enter the house.  They took some EMF readings and did not report anything abnormal.  A few noises got their attention but nothing they could explain as paranormal.

 

They team did catch the thumping noise on their recorder as well as some faint, creepy voices.  What was being said could not be made out.  Another EVP was a male voice calling out for something.  TAPS felt that this might be a residual haunting but I can't imagine that's going to make the family feel any better knowing their house is haunted.  Amy Bruni did do some research and found many articles about the neighborhood and that it might have been possible that someone was murdered in the house many years ago.

 

Be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Barry FitzGerald, Amy Bruni, Kris Williams, and Adam Berry at this year's Reality Rocks Expo!http://www.realitywanted.com/newsitem/4182-ghost-huntersghi-at-reality-rocks-expo

 

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.  Check your local listings.  HD channels offer different times for the show.

 

(Image courtesy of Syfy)

 

Contact Chad Alan at [email protected]